SGP 5.0 Eternity to charge battery

[ScandaLeX]

Most comments related to this player are relatively good; including the battery. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this but mine takes forever to charge.

If I put it on the charger at let's say 60%, in 2 hrs it's only charged to 65% and that's using the charger that came with it.

At night when I go to bed and place it on the charger, when I wake you'd think it'd be at 100%, I'm lucky if it reached 80.

On the rare occasion it reached 100% it immediately drops to 95% the second I unplug it. Not even 5 min later it'll be at 90%. I haven't read this happening to anyone else in all the forums I read so I stumped by this.

 

[brosko]

Mine takes a while to charge but nothing like that. Mine will charge to full from completely dead in 6-8 hours. I do notice however that If you charge it while out is turned off and it says that it has reached 100 percent charge while still turned off, when you turn it on it will only be at 95 percent immediately.
I thing this is because it senses that the battery is "Fuller" when there us no drain on it (ie turned off)
But either way what you ate describing does not sound normal at all

 

[ScandaLeX]

Doesn't seem normal to me either. I have read it takes a while to charge but nothing like what I'm experiencing. I don't recall having ever charging it while off. I'll give that a go tonight and see if there's any difference.

 

[brosko]

Ya try that and see, but i would return it if it is barely getting to 80% overnight. ( i am assuming overnight means a good 7-8 hours at least)
I think i remember reading on here that some of the sgp 5.0's had this problem with the battery.

 

[glassmancheck]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]This may be a long shot, but I've noticed that when I have WiFi and/or GPS on, my battery charges very slow. I never have the GPS on unless I'm traveling. When I use WiFi it seems to use a lot of juice. Do you have these on when you are charging? If so, you might try turning these off while charging. Mine charges much faster this way.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I use the bluetooth quite a bit when listening to a podcast or music. Bluetooth seems to use little juice. If I'm listening to podcasts with WiFi and GPS off, and bluetooth on, the battery lasts forever. But when using the WiFi the battery drains at a faster rate on my SGP5. I can still get several hours when using WiFi, but it is noticeably more of a power hog to me.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The SGP5 has a pretty good battery. If you can't get good results after a few charges, you might look into a battery problem.[/FONT]

 

[ScandaLeX]

I keep wifi on 24/7 so it's usually still on while charging. It never occurred to me to turn it off.

When listening to music or podcast I normally do so with a wired headset which is ironic on my part since I recently purchased 2 LG HBS-700's (one white/one black) so I always keep a set charged.

About an hour ago I placed this on the charger at 60 % but this time completely turned off. 2 hrs later I'm still at 60 %.

 

[brosko]

I noticed to that wifi on makes charging take a little longer but nothing like what you are describing. That seems abnormal no matter what. I would consider maybe exchanging it or calling samsung or something.

 

[marcelf]

with mine, when the battery warning comes on at 15%, I turn it off and plug it into the mains. Full charge when off takes 3 hours and 10 minutes (I'm in th UK).
When on or using it, it does take longer to charge. I don't charge via USB, as it IS very slow.

marcel

 

[brosko]

how else can you charge besides usb?

 

[ScandaLeX]

with mine, when the battery warning comes on at 15%, I turn it off and plug it into the mains. Full charge when off takes 3 hours and 10 minutes (I'm in th UK).
When on or using it, it does take longer to charge. I don't charge via USB, as it IS very slow.

marcel

So far I haven't let mine get that low due to how long it usually takes to charge.

 

[Sideman]

how else can you charge besides usb?

I think he means plugging it into a computer usb port. That IS a slow way to charge. The AC-to-usb charger that came with the SGP is much faster.

 

[brosko]

Oh thanks! I see, so it charges off the computer when connected also.

 

[Sideman]

Yep. Any powered usb connection will charge it.

 

[ScandaLeX]

I think he means plugging it into a computer usb port. That IS a slow way to charge. The AC-to-usb charger that came with the SGP is much faster.

This post was a light bulb moment for me and may be the reason I'm having charging problems. I've been using a Samsung charger. Don't know why but I completely forgot the one that came with the player is AC/USB (not what I've been using).

Another issue I forgot to mention was my player, when turned off and put on charger, would flash a screen showing battery indicator repeatedly. I haven't noticed this using the correct charger.

I'm at 95% charge right now. Going see how long it takes to get to 100% now that I realize I've been using the wrong charger. Usually 95-100% would take a couple of hours.

 

[Sideman]

I think you solved the problem. Although any usb, 5volt, charger will charge an SGP, the amount of current it supplies will determine how fast it charges. Many of them used for phones have only 0.3 Amp (300 milliamp) ratings.

The SGP5 charger is 5v, at 0.7 Amps (700 milliamps). A slightly higher amp rating (within reason) is OK...like a 1 Amp (1000 milliamps) would be OK too.

The lower the current rating, the slower the charging rate.

 

[Unforgiven]

I'm at 95% charge right now. Going see how long it takes to get to 100% now that I realize I've been using the wrong charger. Usually 95-100% would take a couple of hours.

In order to extend the life of the battery, Android normally stops charging at 100% and discharges to somehwere between 95% and 98% and will then recharge to 100% again. This may be what your seeing why it appears that it takes forever to get that last 5%.

 

[marcelf]

I think he means plugging it into a computer usb port. That IS a slow way to charge. The AC-to-usb charger that came with the SGP is much faster.

Sideman is correct, sorry if my post diddn't make sense.

Mine came with a USB cable and a mains charger. I used it originaly with the USB cable to charge it, and it took forever, stalling at 95% for ages.
I then used the mains power unit, and it hit 100% in 1 minute!

Since then I only charge it with the mains power unit. I believe pc's use lower amps to protect themselves (slow charge times), mains units do indeed have higher outputs so charge devices faster. However, I don't want to get a 1 m/amps version in case it damages the battery due to very rapid charging. I know fast charging can shorten the lifespan of some batteries.

And yes, power up the device and it shows 95% straight away, then drops quickly to 90%, but it then drops charge percentage much slower after that. So, normal behaviour.

Not all computers will charge a device via USb if they are turned off (mine does though!?)

WiFi is a power hog, but bluetooth isn't. I turn everything off till I need it to conserve power, same as my phone.

Also with some devices, (my phone yes, but player no) charge it to full power, then unplug it for 5 minutes. Then plug it in again, and it will continue to charge. My phone charges for 25 minutes extra, and it stays charged for much longer as a result!. I've got it to last 6 days with light use.

marcel

 

[marcelf]

I've just decided to test my battery to see how it compared to when I got my 5.0 in February.

My original test played a 2x 22:9 ratio movies then a selection of 16:9 videos for 9 hours 15 mins, then the charge warning came on at 15%.

I've played a 16:9 video on a loup for 8 hours and 55 mins, which I think is pretty good as it is using most of the screen compared to a 22:9 movie.

5 months on, I'm still soo impressed with this device!

marcel

PS
I always run my battery down to 15% when I get the chance, to protect it from damage by topping it up. Also I only charge it with the mains unit, with the device turned off.

 

[brosko]

i have noticed a diminished battery life over the last 7 months. i got my 5.0 in january. it seems now the battery is not lasting as long. it is still good battery life but not great like it was when new.
i am worried that this trend is going to continue. if it continues like this the thing will be useless in a year or so. i plan to have mine a little longer than that.
knowing it has a non replaceable battery has me a little leary.

has anyone figured out if it can be sent back or if there is a shop that you can bring it to or something to replace the battery?

 

[marcelf]

Hi Brosko,
any idea how different your battery consumption is? and ask yourself:

have you installed a lot of apps? I haven't
do you use a task killer to regularly kill them? I do
check how much RAM is available. 230MB on turn on. if not much, apps are running and using power
do you regularly top your battery up without running it down completely? I don't

Batteries are not supposed to have a memory (like the old ni-cd batteries), BUT rechargeable batteries DO need a workout to get full power.
Imagine you are stuck in bed for a month, your muscles would waste away and they would need to be excercised to make them strong again. Batteries are the same, I always charge new ones to full power and then drain / charge them fully 4 to 5 times in a row before I start topping them up. My video camera is 10 years old, and the lithium ion batteries I got with it still work!

samsung products in the UK have a 2 year warranty, not sure about elsewhere.

I hope some of this helps.


Marcel

 

[brosko]

Have instalked apps
Always kill apps
Got about 230 ram also on start up
Always charge it when gets down to 15-40%
Never occured to me that it might be the addition of apps that kill batt

But.. I have battery monitor app the says batt is aging 23%
I am assuming thatmeans diminished ability to hold charge?

 

[brosko]

Also, do you know who we turn to when/if batt dies let say within next year or so and want replacement?

 

[marcelf]

Brosko,
I would charge it to full power with the mains unit when turned off, then turn it on, kill all apps and run a video until it says to charge it.
I used standard def video, Mine lasted 8 hours 55 mins. 720p HD should last about 7 hours 15mins. if it's close, there is nothing wrong. If it's miles out (over an hour or two less), then yes there is.

In the UK under the sale of goods act, the shop that sold it is responsible for getting it sorted or replaced for you. But you can go straight to samsung and get them to sort it out as well.

Test it and see how it does.

good luck,
marcel

 

[brosko]

i am not complaining about the batt. just noting a little less capacity. but i think it is from all the apps that i have installe since new and also i started leaving the wifi on all the time so that when i am near a hotspot it picks it up automatically and gets my email. this i am sure explains the slight decrease in battery life. i know i might have made it sound like there was a big problem, but i am happy with it, i still get between 2 and 3 days on a charge whereas before i was getting between 3 and 4. but my extra apps and the wifi explain that. thanks

 

[ForkliftFred]

Having lots of apps installed will not affect your battery.
Having multiple apps loaded into the RAM will not affect your battery unless they are actually doing something (like playing music while downloading from the internet and playing a game all at the same time)
If an app isn't doing anything then it will not use power but if it remains in the RAM then it will start more quickly when it is needed.
Killing apps will therefore not help your batter, in fact it could have an adverse affect because the apps will use more power to start up next time.
Keeping wifi on constantly will drain the battery much quicker, especially if you use it, but even when the player 'sleeps' it will still be active (as you say, finding hotspots and syncing emails.
Using the brightest screen setting will drain the battery
Using live wallpapers will help drain the battery.
Using active and animated widgets will help drain the battery